I understand that the forest fire would destroy everything in its path until it meets the backfire and then extinguish itself. This would work only when the backfire proceeds in the direction of the forest fire ? How do they make the backfire avoid further damage – if both the fires proceed in the same direction, say east to west based on the wind, wouldn’t the backfire itself be a new forest fire ?
the way it works is by first making a fire break… an area where the back burn ends. then by back burning, you remove additional fuel from the larger fire and create a larger buffer zone or fire break… there by preventing the larger fire from progressing beyond the break. eventually, running out of fuel and extiguishing the blaze.
February 28th, 2010 at 8:47 am
The backfire is supposed to be "controlled"…. but sometimes they manage to lose controll and it does get out of hand…
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February 28th, 2010 at 9:31 am
the way it works is by first making a fire break… an area where the back burn ends. then by back burning, you remove additional fuel from the larger fire and create a larger buffer zone or fire break… there by preventing the larger fire from progressing beyond the break. eventually, running out of fuel and extiguishing the blaze.
References :
10+ years firefighter
February 28th, 2010 at 9:58 am
1) It burns away all the wood/brush/leaves/fuel so fire has no where to go.
2) It burns up the oxygen along the backfire line, further reducing the fuel for the main fire.
References :
February 28th, 2010 at 10:11 am
Sometimes the backfire does become a new forest fire.
Usually what happens is they start a very controlled fire and this burns up all the fuel that is there. When the forest fire reaches it there is nothing for it to burn so it goes out.
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February 28th, 2010 at 10:28 am
Because the backfire will burn up the fuel for the big fire, so that when the forest fire reaches that point there will be no fuel for it to sustain itself with.
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